A cracked cage
by Derin Leviathan
Summary: For longer than he cared to remember the only person that cared for him was the Hokage, however one day she came into his life, she wanted to be his friend, and fir the first time in a long time he had hope
1. Chapter 1

**A/N this is most likely a one-shot however if you guys want more I'll be happy to deliver **

"_Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war firs and then seek to win"-Sun Tzu _

The days had long since stopped having colors; to him they were all shades of gray. He had long since stopped counting the number of times he watched others went about their lives and he was forced to stay in this little box. This box was his cage this box kept him from ever dreaming of seeing the outside this box with a locked door and a barred window. He used to count the days dreaming one day he would be out there running playing, having fun but it was not meant to be, he would forever be trapped. The worst part, it was for him. He was born with a rare defect where he could very easily die from exposure to the outside; this caused them to lock him up in an air-tight room where oxygen was purified before being pumped inside.

At first he was resentful, rebellious he did anything he could to get out spending hours on end clenching the bars trying to rip them off, or banging on the door yet no matter what he tried he could never get out. So his anger and hatred built which caused him to use _that_ chakra, which chakra scared him, it was red and the amount of hatred that poured out of him was terrifying. After that he didn't want to be angry anymore.

So here he sat waiting for the Hokage to visit him, just as he always did, it was truly the only highlight of his dreary days, one small ray of hope in his dark life. So there he sat in the corner, counting the seconds, he was insane, he knew it how could he not be he had been alone for thirteen years, with only one person to talk to, which happened once a day there was no way he was sane after that.

"900,245,710" he counted an insanely high number, however when this is all you had to do you got to high numbers.

"900,245,71-"his counting was interrupted by a knock at the window which caused him to jump, turning he looked at the window, could it be? Was someone there no that was stupid-

There it was again a knocking at his window he her, a girl was knocking at his looking at her she had blonde hair like his that was pulled into a pair of twin tails, and purple eyes that were currently nearly closed to a slit from the smile she was giving him that caused him to blush, on each of her cheeks was three whisker marks giving her a fox like appearance. She waved at him he returned it; she tried to say something that he could not hear so he put his hand against his ear. She seemed to get the hint before pointing at the doorway, and jumping off of the branch. He waited for a few seconds before the sounds of the door opening and then closing reached his ears turning back there was the sound of the air in the other room being recycled with pure air, before his door popped open and she walked in.

Getting a better look at her she wore an orange tracksuit with orange jogging pants, she smiled at him again 

"Hey there I'm Naruko how are you" she asked

"Why are you here?" he asked which made her laugh awkwardly

"Well I was talking to Hokage-jiji, and I asked him if there were any lonely people in the village and he told me about you, so I though hey why don't I visit this guy and see if he would like to be my friend" she rambled slightly

"How did you find this place?" was his next question

"Not so big on introductions are ya bro?" she said with a blank stare which made him blush again

"Well if you want to know I took a long time investigating and using my amazing deductive skills, and being the ninja I am to discover the location" she said putting her fist to her heart

This merely made him tilt his head in question which seemed to make her deflate 

"I begged Jiji until he told me where you were." She finally said which made him go

"OOOOOOoooohhhhhh" he looked at her for a second before asking

"Are you one of those stalkers Mr. Hokage told me about?" he asked

This caused Naruko to choke on nothing, coughing while punching herself in the chest

"What NO! I just heard that you were lonely and though you could use a friend" she said shock still clear in her voice

The boy took a step back in shock "friends?" he asked

"Yea ya know someone to play with or, just um what's the word… oh yeah hang out with" she said sincerely

The boy looked at her closely "you'll be my friend?" he asked

To which Naruko nodded "yea lets be friends" reaching out her hand she said

"so let's be friends, I'm Naruko it's nice to meet to meet you"

Slowly unsurely he reached out his hand gripping it with hers, her hand was rough but soft at the same time.

"I-I-I" he hesitated was he ready for this? Looking at her smile he made up his mind

"I'm Naruto" he finally said "it's nice to meet you Naruko"

**_SCENE BREAK_**

**THE HOKAGES OFFICE**

Looking into his sphere the Hokage could not keep the smile off of his face, when he told Naruko about Naruto he had hoped she would go to him, they both needed someone, and as much as he wanted to be there for them he was the Hokage he had duties to his village, he only hoped that these two kids would be enough for each other he hoped that this would make them feel less lonely.

**A/N hello readers, now this is not a full story unless you ask me to make it one, thank you for reading TTFN ta ta for now**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hello! Hello, how are you, yea you see I decided to do another Ch. Of this due to the fact that I got a sudden burst of inspiration for it, I honestly was not expecting to do another Ch. For this story but ya know what they say you can't know fate**

_"If you're trying to achieve there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."-Michael Jordan_

Naruto had never been happier than today, unsurprisingly there was not much they could do, however while Naruto had a frail body he more than made up for it with his mind, him and Naruko would often get into grand adventure but never leave the room. The power of childlike imagination at its best, however the moments that Naruto really treasured, the moments like this one where they just sit back and talked to each other, it felt good to talk to someone his age, nothing against the Hokage but sometimes a child just needed another child.

"So let me get this straight you have NEVER had ramen?" asked one Naruko

"n-no I have not ever had ramen" was Naruto's answer

This caused Naruko to shoot onto her feet one hand raised to the sky with a single finger pointing.

"Blasphemy, how dare you continue to exist upon this planet without tasting the most amazing food on the planet you sir are a sin upon sin, so much sin that you need to be cleansed!" She shouted to the heavens

If there was one thing Naruto realized it was that Naruko was a little… Excitable, however there was one very important question he had to answer for himself first

"Since when did you start using such big words to talk Naruko?"

Honestly for a girl who barley seemed able to read, for her to use such a complicated word as blasphemy, but also to use it right, for a second Naruto wondered if the gods talked through Naruko, it would not be the strangest thing that happened here.

Hearing his question Naruko actually had to stop and think about sitting down cross-leg with her hands on her knees, and her eyes squinted shut, she seemed to be in deep thought. This caused Naruto to laugh a little

"Only you would be able to say words correct and have no idea where you learned that word only you Naruko"

This caused Naruko to blush and punch him in the arm

"Oh yeah well at least I ain't no sissy" was her comeback causing Naruto to laugh again while saying

"I'd rather be a sissy then a baka" was his reply which caused her to pounce him while yelling

"take that back"

The entire time Naruto laughed while yelling at her "Baka, baka, baka, BAKA"

After a while of them rolling around rough housing eventually Naruko managed to pin down Naruto her knees on his arms, as she stared down at him panting,

"Now *pant* take it back" she said leaning close to him glaring dangerously

"Ok, ok Naruko is not a baka" Naruto said with a smile even though he lost

"Now will you get off?" he cried to which she replied by sitting on his chest

"I don't know it's pretty comfortable up here." She said giving a fake sigh of comfort

Laying there for a while Naruto finally piped up "didn't you say that you were going to give me ramen?" he asked which made her gasp

"oh yea" she said pulling out a scroll unraveling it before channeling chakra into it, which caused two cups of instant ramen to appear steaming and ready to eat. Seeing Naruto questioning gaze she merely shrugged while saying

"Always have to be prepared, I mean what if I'm on a month long mission, if I don't bring around some ramen I think I'd go insane from withdrawal"

She answered his unasked question causing a light face palm

"Only you Naruko only you" to which she just gave him a peace sign.

After the surprisingly delicious meal, Naruko got up and said

"Well I'm going to head home and hit the hay, after all got to get to the academy early tomorrow to help clean up"

"Another prank, Honestly Naruko one day you are really going to get into trouble"

To which she just grinned, "Danger? Bring it on Naruko ain't scared of nobody, after all in order to be Hokage I got to be fearless Datebayo" she said with a thumbs up before leaving Naruto

It was after Naruko left that Naruto finally caved, he fell to the floor coughing harshly his entire body racked with pain, tears flowed down his cheeks as one final cough caused a wad of blood to fly from his mouth onto the floor, looking at the blood in horror Naruto back into a corner and hugged himself, tears freely flowing down his cheeks, even with all they did even with this airtight cage the disease was still killing him, the ramen just accelerated the process, yet… Looking at the ramen cup he could honestly say he had no regrets.

**A/N and the plot thickens, with the disease killing Naruto how in the world is he going to deal with it? Will he live? Will he die? Find later in a Cracked Cage until then TTFN ta ta for now**

**P.S the disease does not make Naruto's body weaker it makes it so that he cannot handle encounters with anything that's not purified for him, now I know what you might be thinking , why doesn't the Kyuubi heal Naruto or why did the Hokage not stop this when Naruko was going to feed him ramen? All will be revealed in good time. So until then I ask you guys to be calm this story I probably only going to be around 3 maybe, I repeat MAYBE 4 but definitely three min.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Welcome to the next Ch. Now as of tomorrow I'm going to starting up school again I probably won't be able to put two chapters a day like I wanted, however I will try my best to put out at least on chapter for you guys now without further ado**

"_A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them"-John C. Maxwell_

Naruto found himself once again waiting for Naruko return, the day before she said that she was going to go and take an important test, and that she would tell him how it went right after it was done, now the day was almost over and Naruto was getting really worried what if something happened to her he didn't know what he would do without her anymore. So he waited, every minute seemed to drag on for an hour and it seemed that slowly but surely the sun was setting, Did she forget about him? Did she have other friends that she hung out with? It's not that he didn't want her to have other friends, far from it! But if she did and she didn't tell him about them, that would hurt so badly.

Lately it seemed his entire world revolved around that girl, her luscious blonde hair, her cute whisker marks, he thought about her constantly and the worst part was that he couldn't understand these feelings growing in his chest, when he thought of her leaving him he felt physical pain and every moment he spent with her he was in heaven. Was this that thing they called love he read so much about in those books, could this be that emotion stirring inside of his heart? He did not know, but he hoped not.

Nothing against Naruko but he was not fit for love, hell he didn't have any memories of him outside of this room, and lately Naruko's visits were becoming shorter and shorter, at first she would stay all day, then should would stay most of the day, half of the day, finally she really only stays a few hours, she was growing bored of him, the wonder had worn off he understood after all in order to visit him she had to stay in a room all day, and he knew she would probably rather spend that time training, he clenched his fists so hard that he drew blood, why him? Why did he have to be born with this disease why does he have to suffer? He could deal with the disease he could live with his inevitable demise, but the one though he could not bear the one thing that just thinking about crushed him was the thought of Naruko leaving.

Naruko had just finished having ramen with Iruka-sensei, to be honest she was still a little shaken up, Naruto was the Kyuubi jinchuriki? He held the monster that killed her parents. To be honest the thought scared her, and for a split-second she was worried that he was the Kyuubi, it was only for a second and that second disgusted her. Now she was just walking around Konoha wondering how in the world she was going to be able to face her friend, after thinking he was a monster she was not sure she deserved to be his friend anymore. But it's not like she could just cut and run that would not be fair to Naruto, and Kami knew that of all people he deserved a little bit of fairness in his life. With her destination set Naruko set her path onto the one person she would honestly trust with her life.

When the door opened Naruto was nearly moved to tears when he saw Naruko, she came for him thank Kami. Walking inside of the room Naruko waved at him one which he returned with a small smile, a smile that faded when he saw what was on her forehead. Wondering where he was looking for a second Naruko suddenly grinned as she took ahold of the metal

"Ah cool huh? I just earned today now I'm officially a ninja pretty neat huh?"

It took all of Naruto's will not to flat out say no, he was happy for her but this meant she could leave for days, years…. Forever, honestly the though scared him, however he bit the bullet and nodded

"Yeah neat" he said.

So they began into their usually think talking about this and that, both enjoying the others presence, however it was when Naruto brought up something specific that Naruko honestly felt a little worried.

"So I hear there a festival in town tomorrow, one to celebrate the intake of new genin into Konoha is this true?" not suspecting anything Naruko nodded,

"Yeah pretty sweet huh?"

"I want to go" this stopped her cold

"What?" she asked, unsure of what she was hearing.

"I said I'd like to go to the festival I think it would be lots of fun"

"But what about your disease"

"Lately I've been feeling much better, I'm sure that I'll be able to handle going outside just fine." He waved off her concern

She bit her lip; he was not supposed to go outside right? But if he said he was feeling better then he should be just fine, but what if he was lying? Then again what could he possibly hope to gain by lying?

"You sure?" she finally asked hoping he would change his mind

"Yeah," no such luck "I'm sure"

They talked for a few more hours before Naruko stood up and said

"Alright Naruto tomorrow me and you are going to go out to the festival, so be ready ok?"

Getting a nod of agreement she waved him goodbye before leaving to her house, Naruto stood there for a few more seconds before letting his smile drop. He fell to his knees barley able to stand anymore, the end was closing in fast he could feel it. Tomorrow would likely be his last day on this planet, the reason he wanted to go to the festival so badly is he wanted one, just one memory of him and Naruko outside of this damned cage. Taking in one last deep breath he laid down in order to conserve his strength for tomorrow, he would be sure to make it the best day he could for them both.

**A/N and that's a wrap, well folks in this Ch. We saw a little bit into how much Naruto truly depends on Naruko, and we get a glimpse on his inner thoughts, but as the clock is ticking down and Naruto's sickness slowly kills him will he be able to make tomorrow as good as a day as I could be only one way to find out. TTFN ta ta for now**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Hello! Hello! How is everyone doing, well this is it, the final Ch. I'm planning on doing, it may have been a short ride but the ride has been fun nonetheless well without further ado**

"_By three ways may we learn wisdom: first by reflection, which is the noblest; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third by experience which is the bitterest."-Confucius_

Naruto might as well been bouncing in place, the amount of joy he felt was just that huge! There truly could be nothing wrong with this day, his soon to be demise not included. However even the cold grasp of death could not damper his spirits, after all these years he was going OUTSIDE oh god he might just explode from sheer joy, the only thing that kept him in bed was the fact that he had to make sure he was strong enough to survive long enough to make his final day a memorable one. So there he lay waiting for the door to open, the door that would finally lead him away from this cage, taking in a deep breath he let loose a huge breath of relief, soon he would be free all he had to do was wait.

Hearing the door open Naruto jumped to his feet, a huge smile on his face as he greeted someone he considered to be an angel, his angel. There she stood in the same outfit she wore everyday but he was happy, a kimono would not fit her, not in the slightest. Walking up to her he wrapped an arm around her shoulder

"Ready to go?" he asked getting a raised eyebrow from Naruko

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" she questioned causing Naruto to shrug his shoulders

"Probably"

Sharing a quick laugh Naruko gripped the doorknob before opening it leading to another room, entering this room Naruko flashed Naruto a worried look which he only replied by giving her a thumbs up. Shoving down her fears, she opened the door, immediately he was assaulted by an overwhelming dizziness, but he managed to hold himself back from fainting. Stepping outside Naruto felt the ground underneath his feet as his toes sunk into the soil, it was cold and it made him want to get it off, yet it was amazing. Suddenly tears began to fill his eyes, after so long he was out, he was finally free to do what he wanted, and he could not stop the tears as they fell down his cheeks nor did he want to, he was content to allow himself to cry at the moment, at the ability to feel the wind brush his skin, at feeling the sunlight as it caressed his body, in this moment he truly found peace. Naruko stood beside him a small smile on her face before she ran up and grabbed him by the neck

"Man you are such a sissy, you can't even stay outside for five minutes without breaking into tears can ya" she asked with a big smile

"I'd rather be a sissy then be a baka." Was his immediate response

Naruko's grin turned a little more devilish at the sound of that, slowly she raised her fist, before putting it to his head and rubbing it up and down.

"This at to teach ya, you sissy Datebayo"

This of course caused Naruto to cry out laughing all the while he was yelling "BAKA"

After the two of them finished and Naruto put some shoes on, they made their way into the village, Naruto could not help but stare at every little thing that he saw on the street, anything he could look at or touch he made sure to use that right freely. Even the buildings fascinated him I mean come on, how interesting can a building be. Finally they arrived at the festival Naruto's eyes seemed to sparkle at everything turning to Naruko he asked

"So, what do we do first?"

This caused her to smirk, running both of them ran around, they went and caught fishes from a stall, Naruko was shown wielding a giant mallet in front of a machine that caused a rod to go into a bell, the man at the stall had his jaw dropped seeing that Naruko had made it hit the bell, you could see Naruto chowing down on some ramen next to Naruko.

Finally they stood in front of another booth this one was simple throw a ball it over the cans, then you win. Checking her wallet Naruko grimaced

"This is going to have to be the last game; I'm going broke over here"

Naruto nodded to her, paying the man the money when she reached for the ball Naruto stopped her looking at him he gulped and said

"I want to win you a prize"

Hearing this caused Naruko to blush while looking away

"It's ok, you don't have to win me anything" she said, somewhat meekly getting a firm shake of the head from Naruto

"Please Naruko let me do this" he said resolutely

Hearing this caused Naruko's blush to increase slightly more before she gave him a nod of approval. Grabbing the first ball Naruto locked onto his target he had three tries to knock over one stack of cans in order for him to win a prize. Taking in a deep breath he reared his fist back which caused the ball to slip from his grasp and go flying the wrong direction. Seeing this caused Naruko to break into a fit a giggles as she held her stomach bending over she pointed at Naruto

"Man *wheeze* that was *gasp* so bad oh god I was I had a way to record this, that was pure gold!"

This caused Naruto to blush a deep red "it was my first time throwing something like this! Give me a break" he cried

Hearing this caused Naruko to stop laughing and look at Naruto whit a small smile walking over to him she grabbed the ball in his hand and hugged him close to her

"Then let's do this together" she whispered to him.

Nodding to her, his face red enough to make a lobster jealous, Naruto and Naruko raised their arms, pulled them back and threw, causing the ball to smack into the cans making them fly everywhere, causing them both to cheer looking at the prizes, Naruto picked the one of a stuffed toad to give to Naruko.

"Why a toad?" she couldn't help but ask getting a shrug out of him

"I don't know it just seemed to fit"

Now they were both walking down the street the sun was beginning to set, and things were generally calming down. The pair of blondes where wandering aimlessly, neither of them had a care in the world, it wasn't until Naruto fell to his knees coughing up blood that this peace had ended, Naruko gasped in shock and got on her knees holding him

"What happened?" she asked since it was obvious he was not alright meanwhile Naruto was trying to get the coughs under control a failing task.

Standing up fully Naruto took in a deep breath of air before saying

"there is one last place I wish to visit before the day is over, one more place that is all I ask." Naruko however shook her head

"No we need to get you to the hospital, you're not well Naruto"

"I have not been well in a long time Naruko, hell I don't think I was ever well to begin with."

Naruko stood up fully tears in her eyes

"Naruto we need to take you to a hospital, it's the only way to save you" she cried hoping he would see reason however he merely shook his head in denial

"I will never be better, please Naruko take me to this one place please" he begged her.

Looking in his eyes she could see that he was not going to change his mind she grabbed onto his hand ignoring the way hers shook as she held his.

"Where, where is it that you want to go?" she asked this made Derin give a small smile

"To the top of the Hokage's monument

**_ Scene End_  
>Stair-way to the top of the monument <strong>

As the both of them walked to the top of the monument, Naruko was letting silent tears fall from her eyes, her best friend the boy she loved was dying, and she could not save him. Her hands shook as she made them into fists, why was he so stubborn why wouldn't he just go to the hospital, maybe she should force him there. However looking at his back, she did not see the back of a dying man she saw the back of a warrior, one who had finally accepted his fate. Try as he might however, Naruko knew he was getting weaker, the steps he took were getting slower the breaths he gasped were becoming deeper. It was only a matter of time now.

Reaching the top of the mountain Naruto walked towards the fourth Hokage's head not saying a word, getting onto one of the spikes he sat down leaning against it looking out onto the sunset. Naruko sat on the other side of the spike both of them not able to see each other but they could FEEL the others presence. Finally speaking Naruto said

"Thank you" confusing Naruko thoroughly

"for what?"

"for saving me from that cage, for finally setting me free"

"Naruto, why are you doing this?" she asked wanting to know more than anything else

"because I love you" this cause Naruko eyes to snap wide, tears pulling in her eyes

"I've loved you for a long time now, and I've also felt my death approaching for a long time, I could have lived longer, for maybe about a week, but what would be the point, living like that caged and never set free is a fate worse than death, I wanted to die with no regrets now finally letting you know how I feel I could honestly say I'm ready to die"

The way he said it caused Naruko to shake lightly

"say it again, say you love me again"

"I love you" he said without hesitation

"Again"

"I love you" his voice was weaker this time

"Again"

"I love you"

"Again"

… There was no response this time Naruko was left with silence, nothing seemed to happen at first before she started shaking even more, bringing her knees up to her face she began to cry tears flowing from her eyes. It took some time before she calmed down enough to mutter these words

"I love you too"

**A/N THAT'S IT it's a wrap. Story over, man that was the most emotional scene I have ever written, I hope you guys like it cause I enjoyed writing it TTFN ta ta for now**


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